Duncan Smith & Fraud; ave a bit of that, you peculating, inept, somewhat-less-than-honest, shower-of-shite! As the Guardian reported (Thousands due bedroom tax refunds after blunder by DWP, 10 January), many tenants have been charged the bedroom tax while exempt under regulation 217. Although the DWP places the total number of affected tenants at 6,000-7,000, most experts feel the total will be far higher. In Cardiff and Caerphilly alone (just two out of 455 local authorities), around 500 affected tenants have been identified. By most estimates, between 40,000-60,000 tenants – some of the most financially vulnerable members of our community – have been made to pay a charge for which they were never liable. Many of these will have surrendered valuable rights on written advice. A significant minority will have forfeited their tenancies or been evicted. That part of the 2012 Welfare Reform Act which introduced the spare room subsidy has, whether through careless drafting or legislative indifference, prompted chaos and confusion. Given that the minister never sought to define what constitutes a bedroom, local authorities have been forced to depend upon a steady stream of guidance and (sometimes) threatening bulletins. Meanwhile, as communities organise, a growing flood of appeals succeed, leaving housing benefit departments ever more bewildered. The poorest continue to suffer on incomes that sometimes dip beneath the UN poverty threshold. Many Welsh tenants and their supporters will be joining a national day of action against the bedroom tax with a Cardiff march and rally on Saturday 5 April. This latest attempt by the DWP to downplay such a massive error demonstrates not only how misconceived the spare room subsidy is, but also the futility of seeking to conceal its wider social harms. Rather than amending regulation 217, we urge the minister to recommend the bedroom tax now be repealed. Jamie Insole, Adam Johannes Cardiff and South Wales Against the Bedroom Tax, Most Rev Barry Morgan Archbishop of Wales, Huw Irranca-Davies MP, Chris Bryant MP, Leanne Wood AM Leader, Plaid Cymru, Mick Antoniw AM, Bethan Jenkins AM, Lynne Neagle AM, Joe Halewood, Juliet Edgar Reclaim, Steve Clarke Welsh Tenants, Joe Puzey Shelter Cymru
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 09:42:32 +0000
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